An automobile is a dangerous place to be. Every 12 minutes or so, one person dies because of a car accident in the United States. That means that in any given year the 6 million car accidents on our roadways will claim more than 40,000 lives. With more and more cars being added to the road each year, the auto industry isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, but they aren’t the only industry ramping up their efforts to serve our nations citizens.

For the last 35 years, the Human Injury Research and Applied Biomechanics Divisions of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Vehicle Safety Research has been conducting studies aimed at advancing scientific knowledge in biomechanics in order to “enhance motor vehicle occupant safety through regulatory and non-regulatory efforts, and support the NHTSA’s mission to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes.”

The NHTSA recently announced the development of one such research program to assist in the development and subsequent evaluation of new vehicle occupant safety systems. The THOR Advanced Crash Test Dummy Program has developed some of the most technologically cutting edge crash test models to date, incorporating significantly improved biofidelity measures and expanded injury assessment capabilities for all areas of the body.

To simplify the trauma that a typical car accident does to a person’s body, we must think in terms of collisions and momentum. Most people characterize a car accident as one impact, however when a driver collides with another vehicle, three separate collisions occur. The first collision involves the vehicles momentum being abruptly stopped by another object, while the second occurs when the passengers in the vehicle collide with the interior of the car. The third and most damaging collision happens when a passenger or pedestrian’s internal organs collide with their body. These are the types of collisions that research programs like THOR are aimed at preventing, and these are the collisions that injure three million Americans each year, two-thirds of them permanently. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

Our lawyers possess over 130 years of legal and medical experience. We have an intimate knowledge of the steps that need to be taken in incidents of spinal cord damage, severely broken bones, or traumatic brain injury. In one such case, our attorneys recovered $2.07 million in compensation for a woman who suffered multiple leg injuries in an auto collision. This money allowed our client to pay for her medical costs, and was a crucial factor in facilitating her rehabilitation.

Permanent traumatic injuries can be extremely difficult to live with on one’s own. Many victims of these accidents require frequent attention and assistance, as well as routine medical visits. This kind of care can cost millions of dollars over a lifetime, and that is why it is crucial for anyone who has been critically injured by a reckless or negligent driver to have someone to fight for the compensation that they deserve. If you or a loved one would like to inquire about a possible case, please call us for a free consultation.

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The purpose of this blog is to deliver news and information that is relevant to our areas of practice. The news and information reported on this blog represent the legal actions of attorneys throughout the United States. Our firm does not claim to represent plaintiffs in all of the lawsuits, settlements, and jury verdicts reported, only those noted as Levin & Perconti cases.